Women's Basketball - Our Coaching Staff

Head Coach - Brandie Murrish

Brandie Murrish begins her second season at the helm of the Sierra College Women’s Basketball program. Under her guidance last season, the team finished 2nd in the California Community College State Tournament with an overall record of 32-5. As a result, her peers voted her 2006-2007 Coach of the Year – North Region.

Coaching

Prior to her position at Sierra College, Coach Murrish guided Bishop Alemany High School, a premier Catholic High School in Southern California, to the CIF Division Finals and was awarded the 2005-2006 CIF Southern Section Coach of the Year honors.

From 1998-2000, Coach Murrish was an Assistant Coach at her alma mater, California Lutheran University. During that time, her teams won the SCIAC championship and finished in the NCAA 2nd round.

As a student-athlete at Butte College, Coach Murrish earned the title of Butte County Sophomore Athlete of the Year. Later as a student-athlete at California Lutheran University, she earned 1st Team All-Conference honors.

Her educational experience includes two Masters Degrees; one in Education, Instructional Technology from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona and a Master’s of Science in Kinesiology from California State University, Northridge.
e-mail: bmurrish@sierracollege.edu Office: Rocklin Campus

Assistant Coaches:

Diane Looker

Diane holds a B.S. degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Cal Poly Pomona, as well as an M.Ed. in Physical Education from Azusa Pacific University, and a secondary teaching credential from CSU Chico. She earned a full scholarship out of John A. Rowland H.S. to play basketball at Cal Poly Pomona, where in 1982 her team won the first Division II NCAA national championship. While at Pomona, her team won conference every year and only lost one conference game in four years! She taught two years at Sierra College, where in 1997-98 she was named P.E. & Athletics Division Teacher of the Year by the Associated Student Body. Currently, she is in her 9th year of teaching Physical Education at Will C. Wood H.S. in Vacaville.

Coaching

Diane enters her 11th year as an assistant coach at Sierra College. She began coaching one year at the high school level and then moved on to head coaching stints at Citrus College and Mt. Sac. While at both schools, she earned Conference Coach of the Year honors. During her time coaching at Sierra for Roz Goldenberg, and currently for Brandie Murrish, the program has won one state championship, reached the state championship tournament four times, and last year were state runner-ups..

Hobbies

Diane has become a huge ice hockey fan and enjoys going to the San Jose Sharks games. She also plays ice hockey in a men's league at Skatetown in Roseville. Driving her car has also become an inherited interest, because she does so much of it between her daily commute and coaching! Finally, she enjoys a relaxing evening eating sushi at her favorite restaurant.

Favorite Quote: "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right players." (Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 miracle on ice USA hockey team)

Sydney Gatson

Sydney Gatson joins Sierra College in her 1st year as an Assistant Coach. Her main duties include developing skills at the guard position, recruiting, maintaining the Team Newsletter – X’s & O’s, and scouting.

Gatson played her college career at Sacramento State University where she was a 3-year captain and starter. She was known as a tenacious defender and a threat from anywhere on the floor. After battling through both back and knee injuries, Gatson was regarded as “one of the toughest players to ever wear a hornet uniform.” She is amongst the top 10 all-time assist leaders.

In high school, Gatson was a 4-year all-league performer in both basketball and volleyball. Her senior year she led Clayton Valley High School to consecutive league titles after averaging 19 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, and received Concord Transcript Player of the Year honors. She was also a scholar athlete all four years.

Gatson has a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Operations Management.